Deepinder Goyal reveals reason for changing ‘accidental company’ Zomato’s name to ‘Eternal’: ‘It scares me to my core…’
Online food delivery platform Zomato Ltd’s board of directors on Thursday, February 6, approved the holding company’s name change to “Eternal” without changing the name of the brand or the app.
In his letter to the shareholders on Thursday, Chief Executive Officer Deepinder Goyal said, “Zomato is an accidental company,” born out of a desire to serve, which became a business over time, according to an exchange filing.
“Eternal is a powerful name, and to be honest, it scares me to my core. It is a tall order to live up to. Because ‘Eternal’ carries both a promise and a paradox. True permanence isn’t built on bold claims of invincibility or the swagger of success. It is forged in the quiet understanding that our immortality stems from our mortality — because the day we think we will last forever simply because we declare it, we begin our end,” said Goyal in his letter.
Origin of ‘Eternal’
Deepinder Goyal, in the letter, also addressed how the company started using the name “Eternal” instead of Zomato when they acquired Blinkit to differentiate between the company and the brand or the application.
“We also thought that we would publicly rename the company to Eternal, the day something beyond Zomato became a significant driver of our future,” said Goyal, highlighting that, along with Blinkit, the company feels that the time has come.
However, only the name of the holding company will be changed. After the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) approves the name change, the online food delivery application Zomato and quick commerce platform Blinkit will retain their names.
Goyal says working at Eternal will be a wake-up call to the fact that “our forever is earned in moments of self-doubt, in acknowledging our limitations, in our constant hunger to be better than we were yesterday”.
Terming it a “mission statement”, Goyal said that “Eternal” is a powerful name that scares him to the core because living up to it is a tall order.
The CEO also said that once the new name is approved, the main website will be converted from zomato.com to eternal.com, and the stock market ticker will become ETERNAL from ZOMATO. The company will have four business brands under its holdings – Zomato, Blinkit, District, and Hyperpure.
Zomato shares closed 0.95 per cent lower at ₹229.05 in Thursday’s trade, compared to ₹231.25 at the previous market close. The company announced the board approval of the name change after market hours on February 6.
